In the wildcard game, the Vernon Panthers thrashed the North Vancouver Carson Graham Eagles 96-79 as Darren Apels scored 46 and nabbed 42 boards. Doug Hartl added 20 and Shane Collins 11. Panthers coach Reni Dolcetti told the Vernon Morning Star that “they responded well and played hard. Darren was unstoppable inside. They really didn’t have anybody to contain him.”
In the opening round: …………………………………………………… The New Westminster Hyacks defeated the Terrace Caledonia Kermodes 86-64. The Hyacks full-court press undid the Kermodes. The Hyacks led 20-18 after one quarter and 47-39 at the half. Fraser DeWalle led the Kermodes with led the Kermodes with 15. Chesley Neufeld added 11 and Tyson Hull 11, along with 9 boards. The Kermodes (coached by Cam MacKay) also included David Kelly, Chad Taylor, Rory MacPherson, Brooks Robinson. …………………………………………………… The Richmond McNair Marlins clipped the Victoria Mount Douglas Rams 102-83. Rams forward John Main blamed the loss on a lack of poise. “We lost control of the tempo of the game. We let McNair control it and we tried to play that way – we needed to play to our strengths, and slow it down, but we tried to run with them and that hurt us. They ran, and we tried to play run and gun, we got away from our game plan.” Main suggested he has to shoulder a lot of the blame. “I didn’t play as well as I could … maybe I didn’t get the ball as often as I’m used to, but when I did get it, I let the team down,” he said. Main finished with 14 points. The Rams were led by Grade 11 point guard John Hines who scored 21 points, eight in the final quarter as the Rams made a desperate surge to pull even with McNair. But the Marlins were too strong, and were deadly from outside. Forward Matt Twyford scored 29 points to lead McNair while guards Jason Kobayashi and Joe Arienda chipped in 16 points each. Rams coach Gord Hoshal noted that his team did very little according to plan. “We played McNair’s pace. I wanted to take it down and play a half-court game on offence, and make them work on ‘D’ because we are bigger. We wanted to punch it into our big guys but I think it only got there three or four times in the first half, and I don’t think it got there at all in the second half.” Very little went Mount Douglas’ way in the second half. Hines spent a lot of the third quarter on the bench with four fouls. He would later be joined for a time by Main and Travis Edison who fouled out with eight and a half minutes left in the final quarter. With the Rams’ three main offensive weapons either sitting down or holding back, by necessity, the Marlins pulled away late in the fourth. Hoshal insists it was a game the Rams could have and maybe should have won, but admits his team was perhaps too excited and nervous playing at GM Place on the Grizzlies’ floor to buckle down when needed. “But full credit to McNair. They played smart and played hard and deserved this win.” The Rams (coached by Hoshal, assisted by Richard Avery) also included John Hines. …………………………………………………… The Quesnel Spartans thumped the Cranbrook Mount Baker Trojans 96-59 as Ray Dial scored 28, while nabbing 11 boards. Matt Tobin added 19 and Rob Coffin 13. The Spartans led 54-20 at the half. The Northern B.C. Central champions haven’t been to the tournament since 1962, prompting a T- shirt reading, “35 years, a long time between dances.” Coach Cyril Tobin noted “hey, every tournament needs its Cinderella — anything can happen.” …………………………………………………… The Coquitlam Centennial Centaurs defeated the Vernon Panthers 82-72 (82-74, according to the Vernon Morning Star). Darren Apels paced the Panthers with 33, along with 20 boards. Shane Collins added 16 and Chris Jodoin 12. Panthers co-coach Doug Rogers told the Morning Star that “we had a pretty tight first half. Our shots were short because our boys were pretty nervous about having to play in such a big stadium.” The Panthers broke to an 8-0 lead but soon had trouble against full-court pressure. The Centaurs ripped off an 18-3 run and led 18-11 after one quarter and 43-26 at the half. The Panthers (coached by Reni Dolcetti and Doug Rogers) also included Doug Hartl, Chris Graham.
In the second round: …………………………………………………… The top-seeded Vancouver Kitsilano Blue Demons defeated the Coquitlam Centennial Centaurs 74-51. Looking to become just the fifth team in the tournament’s 52 years to win back-to-back crowns, the Blue Demons got 6-9 post Etienne Orr-Ewing, forward Sandy Bisaro and point guard Keith Bustard on track quickly. “I don’t think there’s pressure on us,” Bustard told the Vancouver Province. “I think we are expected to play well and I think it’s good for us. Everyone thinks we’re going to do well, so we’ve got to think we’re going to do well. I think it forces us to be ready for every game.” The Blue Demons led 8-1 early and 22-14 after one quarter. They went on a 13-5 run to extend their lead to 35-19, before the Centaurs rallied to within 39-28 at the half. “We beat a good team,” said Orr-Ewing. “We’re the No. 1 seed, and usually you play not a very strong team in the first round, but that was a quality team.” Bisaro hit 4-4 from the arc, while scoring 29 and nabbing 8 boards. Orr-Ewing added 23 and 13 rebounds, and Bustard 11, 9 boards and 5 steals. Centennial got 15 from forward Ryan Wiskar and 14 and 7 rebounds from centre Shawn Mervin. “It’s a lot different than last year,” said Bisaro. “Last year no one really expected us to do anything. This year, I’ve got people asking me for tickets and stuff like that.” …………………………………………………… The 3rd-seeded Port Coquitlam Terry Fox Ravens dumped the New Westminster Hyacks 92-54 with a dominant second half. …………………………………………………… The 11th-seeded Vancouver College Fighting Irish defeated the North Vancouver Argyle Pipers 79-58. The Fighting Irish led 39-24 at the half. …………………………………………………… The 2nd-seeded Maple Ridge Ramblers defeated the Richmond Matthew McNair Marlins 88-56. The Marlins (coached by Paul Eberhardt) included Mickey Ringuette, Joe Arienda, Gerold Deo, Jason Kobayashi, Rob McClelland. …………………………………………………… The 2nd-seeded Richmond Colts defeated the Quesnel Spartans 77-66. The Spartans (coached by Ed Neilson and Cyril Tobin, assistant Dagin Brackett) included Robert Coffin, Doug McKay, Ray Dial, Craig Manning and Matt Tobin. …………………………………………………… The Burnaby St. Thomas More Knights edged the Kelowna Owls 79-77. The Owls included Neil Collier, Brendan Gruen, Trent Kitsch. …………………………………………………… The Clearbrook Mennonite Educational Institute Eagles defeated the Duncan Cowichan Thunderbirds 74-66. The Thunderbirds (coached by Ted Webb, assisted by Scott MacLeod) included Hamead Rashead, Lee Canty, Jason Crawford, Lucky Walia. …………………………………………………… The Port Alberni District Armada romped 95-73 over the Port Moody Blues as point guard Ed Kunderman finished with a triple-double with 13 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds. The Armada looked unstoppable in the first half as they streaked to 55-36 lead. Alberni was paced to the win by game MVP Jason Hubbs and Andrew Greig who both scored 22 points, Nick Seredick added 18. Ricky Hernandez led Port Moody with 25. “I think this was a fun game for our kids to play, it got a little loose once we opened up the lead,” Armada coach Jim Mayo told the Victoria Times-Colonist. “This is a tough place to play, because it’s so different from what you’re used to, but we came out and did what we had to do.” The Armada shot .580 from the field, and forced, Hernandez, Moody’s key offensive threat to take some bad shots, he was five for 18 from the field. Alberni got away with 21 turnovers against Moody only because the Blues couldn’t break down the defence. “I think we’re peaking at the right time,” said Armada guard Andrew Greig, who nailed two treys. “This was a big win for us.”
In the quarterfinals, the 3rd-seeded Port Coquitlam Terry Fox Ravens defeated the Vancouver College Fighting Irish 80-70 in overtime. The Ravens needed a pair of free throws from defensive stopper Danny Elliott with seven seconds to play in regulation to force the extra session. Elliott then scored the first six points of the five-minute OT and ended the fifth period with 11. All told, Elliott scored 17 of the Ravens’ final 28 points. He ended up with 21, four rebounds, four steals and two assists. “On the foul line, I was thinking that I had been shooting the ball flat all night, so I needed to get under the ball,” Elliott said of his OT-forcing free throws. “But, yah, I was big-time worried.” The Irish seemed to have more spark than the Ravens for much of the contest. The Irish (coached by x, managers Michael Sweeney, Keith Cotiamco, Micheal DeMello, Eric Low, Hartley Facultad, Jonathan lee, Marc Chin and Craig Turley) included defensive player of the tournament Alex Lando, Justin Villanueva, Kevin Eiben, Scott Wright, Brent Acorn, Derek Gardener, Jordan Mason, Graeme Williscroft, Brent Sweeney, Christopher Peerless, Kevin Lardizbal, Theodore Gonzales, Karl Bahena, Patrick Suttie and Patrick Rogers.
The 2nd-seeded Maple Ridge Ramblers crushed the Burnaby St. Thomas More Knights 84-60. Things started badly for the Ramblers, though, as star centre Shaun Halverson picked up his second foul with 1:23 gone in the game. Things got worse after that as Knight guard Adrian Lenahan got hot from the perimeter to give More an 18-9 lead. The Ramblers slowed the pace and trailed 22-15 after one quarter. Halverson returned to start the second period and the Ramblers held the Knights scoreless for the first 5:29 of the second and the first 4:27 of the third. The Ramblers led 36-29 at the half. “We weren’t scared at any time,” said Ramblers guard Aaron Miller. “They really pushed us in the first, but we knew that we could do it. We really didn’t know anything about them. They hit some shots that we didn’t know that they could hit.” Miller led the Ramblers with 22. Halverson added 18, while Steve Adams scored 16 and dominated the floor. Mike Eskildsen added 9, Ryan Parsons 8 and James Dalton 7. “I’m a forward but recently I’ve been playing guard because we wanted a bigger line-up,” Adams told the Vancouver Sun. “Every team is going to hit some good shots and we knew they wouldn’t be hitting those shots in the fourth quarter. So, it really didn’t bother us.” Ramblers coach Ken Dockendorf added that Adams “plays everywhere. He plays the post, he plays forward, he plays guard. He’s probably one of the few kids who can play point guard one minute and post the next.” Dockendorf added that the Knights “played extremely well early. The game was almost over early, in some respects. Then, if we didn’t get that roll going, we might have been buried so far, we couldn’t recover. We didn’t know what to expect from them. They worked extremely well and you wonder if they can keep it up. But who knows? Because our defence wasn’t that bad. Fortunately, we were able to step our defence up. They hit a lot of shots early, but we were able to stop that.” Tim Dumas paced the Knights with 14. Lenahan added 13 and Mike Metzak 6. The Knights also included Denis Johnston.
The top-seeded Vancouver Kitsilano Blue Demons defeated the Port Alberni District Armada 73-61 as 6-9 post Sandy Bisaro scored 23. Jason Hubbs led the Armada with 20. Nick Seredick added 19 and Ed Kunderman 17 but star guard Andrew Greig scored just 8, and hit nothing from beyond the arc, his mainstay. Coach Jim Mayo told the Victoria Times-Colonist that Greig was hesitant to shoot after missing a few early outside shots. “He got a little tentative is what happened. When we finally posted him up, he was able to score, but again we just ran out if time. To be honest, if we had two more minutes, I think we could have won that game. We played well, we were just a little nervous at the start and turned the ball over. By the time we settled down, we were out of time. … I think both teams played really well – I think they’re both in the top-four myself.”
In the last quarterfinal, the Clearbrook Mennonite Education Eagles edged the 4th-seeded Richmond Colts 76-73 as Mark Redekop scored 25, while nabbing 13 boards and dishing 8 assists. Jarvis Neufeld added 21, Dave Martens 15, along with 10 assists and Jon Inrig 9. Eagles coach Arnie Dick told the Abbotsford News that “we didn’t let them run. That second ahlf, the guys didn’t break. We kept coming back.” MEI led 15-3 early and 35-29 at the half by patiently and systematically running their sets. Pasha Bains paced the Colts with 47 (46 according to the Richmond Review). Jon Hooten added 10. Colts coach Bill Drisbow said “they did a helluva job handling the pressure. We got up by four or five (in the second half) but they were able to stay with us.” Drisbow told the Richmond Review that “sure we gained experience but we’ve got to get rid of this Richmond mystique. We thought we could win this championship. We weren’t thinking about next year.” Bains had a chance to tie it with 3.6 seconds to play but said he was fouled, causing the ball to come loose. Teammate Gil Cheung picked it up and heaved it but it bounced off the rim.” The Eagles opened with a 19-2 run. MEI sealed the win with a pair of free throws from Jonathan Inrig with 16.6 seconds to play. Drisbow said “we let ourselves get down too much and we gambled foolishly sometimes. But when we got up by four or five, I thought they were ready to die. But they stayed in.” The Colts (coached by Drisbow) also included Atnas Maeko.
In the semis, the top-seeded Vancouver Kitsilano Blue Demons defeated the 3rd-seeded Port Coquitlam Terry Fox Ravens 68-54 with a suffocating defence. The Blue Demons trailed by 10 early but rallied with defence and then slowly pulled away from the Ravens. Kitsilano led 34-24 at the half and took a 15-point lead early in the fourth quarter but the Ravens closed to within 4. But Richard Morgan completed a three-point play at the buzzer to give the Blue Demons a 49-42 after three quarters.
In other semi, the 2nd-seeded Maple Ridge Ramblers defeated the Clearbrook MEI Eagles 56-52 in overtime. It marked the third consecutive campaign that the Eagles had lost to the eventual champion. “Yeah, it’s been tough,” coach Arnie Dick told the Vancouver Province. “Last year, I thought the B.C. championship team was going to come out of our group (in the draw). I said to the guys that that was going to happen. It was a shame we finished No.2 in the Fraser Valley and had to play No. 2 Lower Mainland (Kitsilano) so early. It was a bit of a tough draw in that way. “I like the draw this year. I thought it was a good draw. I thought we had as good a chance as any to get through.”
In the bronze medal match, the Port Coquitlam Terry Fox Ravens edged the Clearbrook Mennonite Educational Institute Eagles 67-65. MEI cut the margin to 63-62 when forward Jonathan Inrig drained a trey with 32 seconds remaining. But guard Danny Elliott nailed four straight free throws to ice the win. Richard Morgan paced the Ravens with 30. The Ravens led 33-29 at the half and held a 52-45 margin after three. “Absolutely,” Ravens coach Don Van Os told the Vancouver Province when asked if the third-place was truly important. “Maybe not tonight, but in five or six years from now, they will look at the (tournament) program and they’ll see third. Then it’ll matter.” Eagles coach Arnie Dick said his troops “can hold their heads high. They can come out of the tournament knowing they gave it their best shot. You look at the other teams Maple Ridge beat to get to the final — no one else was even close to them. But we gave them a real game.” The Eagles also included Mark Redekop, Jarvis Neufeld, Dave Martens, Jason Eheler.
In the final, the Vancouver Kitsilano Blue Demons became the fifth team in tournament history to repeat as champs by defeating the Maple Ridge Ramblers 62-52. Portland State-bound 6-8 post Sandy Bisaro dominated the paint. That’s all you need to win the title, Blue Demons coach Randy Coutts told the Vancouver Sun. “You need at least one guy who is at least 6-5 who can dominate the middle. This allows you to do a lot of things and he can cause a lot of trouble for teams on the press. … He’s one of our best shooters. He has an excellent post game and defensively is a smart player. … We play a slower paced tempo, but take the opportunities when they are there for a 3-on-2 or 2-on-1.” Coutts said the repeat title “was better. The kids put in a lot of hours, a lot of energy. They committed to the program and this is what the goal was. … We basically took it a game at a time. We made sure that none of the egos got too far out of control.” Bisaro said the team’s balance proved decisive. “We have other guys who can score, that on any given night anyone can get you up to 30 points. It just happened that I had a good tournament. But you can’t concentrate on one guy on our team,” he said, adding that the repeat title “always means more when it’s your senior year.” The Blue Demons trailed by 29-26 at the half as Aaron Miller shot the lights out for the Ramblers, hitting 15 points. But Kitsilano turned up the defensive pressure in the second half but ripped off a 12-2 run early in the third quarter to take a 38-33 lead. Coutts told the Vancouver Sun that he informed his squad at the half that “they were lazy on defence. We weren’t moving our feet. We looked stagnant.” Ramblers coach Ken Dockendorf told the Sun “we had to work so hard. Kits is so big they didn’t have to work as hard literally for the whole tournament. In the end they were just a lot fresher. You could see it. And our guys kind of sagged. But Kits has size and very good players, which is a great combination. They’re just a better team.” Bisaro finished with 20 points, including 8-9 from the line, where the Blue Demons were 16-20. Keith Bustard added 16, Etienne Orr-Ewing 13, while 6-5 forward Tim O’Connor came off the bench to score 9 points and grab 14 boards. Dockendorf told the Province that his Ramblers left it on the floor. “The better team won. What happens is they have three big kids there and they wear you down. They get all the rebounds, so you can’t get anything easy inside. They force you to take hard shots from outside, more than you want to. And that’s really the story of the game. In the second half, their defence just got better.” Dockendorf added that his troops tired in the second half. “We didn’t have quite the legs or the adrenalin we needed to have to continue to play at that level. And we had to play a very good game at a very high level to have a chance to win.” Aaron Miller led the Ramblers with 18 points. Shaun Halverson added 13, while grabbing 8 boards. Mike Eskildsen scored 9 and Steve Adams 8. Tournament MVP Bisaro finished the tournament with a combined 93 points for a 23.2 ppg average. He added 27 boards, 4 assists and 5 blocks in four games, hitting 37-72 from the floor, 5-15 from the arc and 14-19 from the line. Both teams kept things simple and careful, as they walked the ball up the court on practically every possession and diligently tried to work their offences to perfect precision. The Blue Demons outscored the Ramblers 36-23 in the second half. “This is so different from last year,” Etienne Orr-Ewing told the Vancouver Province. “Last year no one thought we could do anything. Everyone thought we were a bunch of chumps. This year everyone knew what we had and knew what we were going to do, and they still couldn’t stop us. … This year, this is our win. It’s all the guys, together. We started playing basketball together in Grade 8, and we started focusing and concentrating on being here, playing in this game, back then. It feels great. What more can you want? We are provincial champions, times two.” Dockendorf told the Province “we wanted to get better shots than we got. We couldn’t get the shots that we wanted, the inside shots. We had to revert to the perimeter, and it’s pretty hard to win from the perimeter. I think Kits is a very good team. A very good team. Will most people realize that? I really don’t care. I think the people that know about basketball will know.” Bisaro said the Ramblers were “pretty similar to us. … Everyone kind of knew it was going to be like that (slow pace). But that’s fine with me.”
The bronze medalist Port Coquitlam Terry Fox Ravens: Richard Morgan; JoJo Ahenkorah; Jeff Antwi; Danny Elliott; Jamie Schultz; Jas Mander; Bryce MacDonald; co-coach Don Van Os; co-coach Rich Chambers
The silver medalist Maple Ridge Ramblers: Shaun Halverson; Aaron Miller; Mike Eskildsen; Steve Adams; Ryan Parsons; James Dalton; coach Ken Dockendorf
The gold medalist Vancouver Kitsilano Blue Demons: Sandy Bisaro; Etienne Orr-Ewing; Keith Bustard; Josh Bowie; Chris Bale; Tim O’Connor; Mike Service; coach Randy Coutts